Popular culture often portrays work as a drag. Almost like being in prison five days a week. Employees that feel this way can see a significant decrease in productivity, and this will affect company profits.
When employees feel like they have a purpose, this is often reflected in their improved performance at work. It is important for companies to remember that their purpose is different from their business goals of meeting revenue targets. A company’s purpose is to find solutions to problems or discover new ways to serve their community.
The purpose should not be to earn a regular paycheck, but instead something that motivates employees‘ inner drive.
Motivating Employees with Purpose
Simply bringing home a regular paycheck isn’t enough to keep most employees satisfied with their jobs. They aren’t looking to connect to a purpose that just benefits their employers, but helps others as well. Employees are aware of the changes occurring in the world, and are concerned about these problems. They want their employers to understand that they want to be part of a purpose that makes a difference.
Whether they are aware of it or not, most businesses already have a purpose. They are already taking steps to help staff feel that their work is making a difference.
“Start with Why” author and talk show host Simon Sinek, advises companies to stay true to their core values and beliefs. These values and beliefs should always be present when companies are dealing with customers and employees. The company’s basic purpose should be centered on the value it brings, and how this impacts everyone’s lives.
This purpose should be the foundation of the work culture. It allows employees to feel like their personal and professional lives are making a difference in the community. This can help improve employees’ job performance and satisfaction, along with boosting company morale. Companies can also see their standing in the community rise, and this can lead to an increase in profits.
Volunteering and giving back to the community in other ways, can help businesses motivate employees with a sense of purpose. Donating time or money to a charity that matches the company’s core values can also give employees purpose, and it can even help build teamwork.
Employees can get a sense of purpose and businesses can give back to their communities by hosting collection drives, and other types of fund raisers.
There are a few businesses that have gone even further by allowing employees time off to volunteer throughout the year. Some companies even continue to pay their daily salaries when employees are donating their time. Not only does this give employees the sense of purpose they are looking for, it also shows that they have the support of the company.
Companies that encourage their employees to have purpose in their personal and professional lives usually see an increase in productivity, and improved job performance. A sense of purpose also leads to increased company loyalty, which benefits everyone.
Enhance Profit And Productivity With The Power Of Purpose
If your employees only show up to work to punch a clock and collect a paycheck, they’re not doing you or your company any favors, and worse, it represents a missed opportunity on your part. You should strive to instill your employees with a sense of purpose that extends well beyond simply punching the clock.
Employees that are empowered with purpose are more driven and productive. They simply care more, and that can’t help but have a positive impact on your bottom line. The good news is, instilling your employees with a sense of purpose is a lot easier than you might think. After all, your company already has a purpose in the form of its mission statement.
That purpose is also intimately connected to whatever product or service you sell and the ways in which it adds value to your community. That’s the best and most logical place to start but here’s the interesting thing: The more attention you pay to the notion of purpose, the bigger the potential impact.
If, for example, you actively search for local causes in your community to get behind and hold fundraising drives and encourage a spirit of volunteerism, not only will you enhance your firm’s reputation in your community, you’ll also strengthen the sense of purpose among your employees. Some companies go even further than this, allowing their employees to take time off to volunteer for causes that are aligned with your company’s values. A few rarefied companies even pay their employees to volunteer their time to such causes.
That is perhaps the ultimate expression of a purpose-driven company and that approach tends to have the greatest overall impact, but even if you can’t afford to go that far, it still pays handsome dividends to go as far down that road as you can and watch the productivity of your employees soar.
It’s effective because your employees increasingly come to see themselves as much more than cogs in a wheel and more as members of a tight-knit team of people who not only add value via their contributions from a corporate standpoint, but also add value by performing acts of service in the community at large.
This creates a cycle of virtue inside your company that not only completely transforms your corporate culture, but continually ratchets up your stock in the community where your business is based.
At that point, far from simply punching a clock and collecting a paycheck, your employees are connected to an ever-expanding, ever-strengthening web of commitment with your company at its heart, adding value to the community you serve in a variety of ways.
Not just with the sale of products and services but with a genuine commitment to the community itself. That’s powerful. That’s empowering, and it makes your company a joy to work for. Your turnover rates will decrease, employee productivity and profits will soar, and your company will be seen as a well-respected, integral part of the community. That’s win-win.